Return to Transcripts main page
Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
America Votes Tomorrow; Interview With Ralph Nader
Aired November 01, 2004 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, HOST: And good evening from New York. I'm Anderson Cooper.
In 24 hours, the first polls close. No more pundits, no more predictions. Finally, America decides.
360 starts now.
The clock is ticking, the race nearly done. Bush and Kerry criss-cross the country. Tonight, we're with the candidates and in key battleground states. Who has the momentum? Who'll have the turnout? The latest polls, the latest numbers, tonight on 360.
Hanging chads, butterfly ballots, armies of lawyers ready to fight. What have we and haven't we learned from the battles of 2000?
Spoiler, savior, crusader, or crazy? Ralph Nader, on the ballot and on the warpath. Tonight, we go 360 with the man many Democrats blame for George Bush.
And more than $200 million at the box office, but how will "Fahrenheit 9/11" play at the polls? Tonight, Michael Moore, live from Florida, on the president, the challenger, and why he's taking cameras to the polls tomorrow.
ANNOUNCER: This is a special edition of ANDERSON COOPER 360.
COOPER: And good evening again from New York. Thanks for joining us.
Well, this is it, one more fitful night's sleep, for those who get to sleep, anyway, the candidates and their many minions probably will not. We newspeople may not either.
Tomorrow, the voting and then the counting finally begins. The campaign is in its frantic final hours. Early voters are waiting on line to cast their ballots already, and have been in some places for days. These pictures are from Florida.
As for the latest polls, CNN's daily survey of eight well-known national polls, including its own, finds that President Bush has, on the average, a 2 percentage point lead over Senator Kerry, 48 percent to 46 percent. Statisticians would call that pretty much a photo finish.
We're covering all the angles tonight, beginning with Candy Crowley covering the camp, Camp Kerry.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's cold and nasty in Milwaukee, but there they were in an outdoor plaza, the people he needs tomorrow.
SEN. JOHN KERRY, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I'll tell you, it may be one more day, but I promise you this, I will never forget this rally in the rain here in Milwaukee.
CROWLEY: After a two-year blur of small towns and big rallies and speeches, planes and trains and automobiles, there is no moment more urgent, more electric than election eve. Listen.
KERRY: If you believe, as I do, that America's best days are ahead of us, then join me tomorrow and change the direction of America.
CROWLEY: It is the longest of long shots that anything John Kerry says today in Wisconsin or Florida, Michigan or Ohio, will affect tomorrow. So this is about atmospherics, about creating or keeping the sense of momentum. It has to be in your voice, in your body language. There must be confidence with a capital C.
KERRY: I've been coming to Florida enough that my brother Cam is thinking of running for governor. How's that?
CROWLEY: Kerry aides say they really do feel confident. They call their get-out-the-vote operation the biggest Democratic effort in history, and they like what they see in the polls. They claim early voting they've been able to track in battleground states favor Kerry. The truth is, they wouldn't tell us if they were not confident. The truth is, they aren't any more sure than anybody else.
KERRY: I need you in these hours to go out and do the hard work, knock on those doors, make those phone calls, talk to friends, take people to the polls. Help us change the direction of this great nation for the better.
CROWLEY: He is campaigning now on a wing, a prayer, and a little bit of superstition. When Kerry returns to Boston Tuesday, he will go to a local restaurant for a lucky bowl of clam chowder, something this candidate has done every election day of his political career.
Candy Crowley, CNN, Detroit.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: A lucky bowl of clam chowder. We'll talk about omens a little bit later on. But how's this for a one-day itinerary? Wilmington, Ohio, Bergenstown, Pennsylvania, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Des Moines and Sioux City, Iowa, Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Dallas, Texas. The president keeps up quite a pace, but he can't shake senior White House correspondent John King.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In Ohio to begin the final day of his final campaign, the outcome uncertain, the appeal as urgent as it gets.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Now, if you're a voter that believes that the president of the United States should say what he means and does what he says and keeps his word, I ask you to come stand with me.
KING: Marine One still at his disposal, Air Force One too. At issue, whether his lease expires in just 79 days or in four more years. A mix of confidence and nostalgia in this rare tarmac visit with reporters in Pittsburgh.
BUSH: Finish line is in sight. And I just want to assure you I got the energy and the optimism and the enthusiasm to cross the line.
KING: Ohio and Pennsylvania, then Wisconsin and Iowa, western New Mexico, and a homecoming rally in Texas.
KARL ROVE, SENIOR WHITE HOUSE ADVISER: We're going to win. We will win Florida and Ohio. We will take at least two or three or four states that were won by Gore in the last election.
KING: Democrats call it wishful thinking, and history suggests those deciding late tend to choose change. So Mr. Bush warned one last time that change would be for the worse in more ways than one.
BUSH: Hard-working people of western Pennsylvania. We're not going to let him tax you for 20 years on the largest national security issues. He has been consistently wrong.
KING: In Iowa and at every stop, a reflection on September 11 and how he sees his mission since.
BUSH: I've gotten up every morning thinking about how to better protect our country. I will never relent in defending America, whatever it takes.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: Now, Mr. Bush lost his first campaign for public office, a run for Congress, long ago. Aides say he is confident he will not lose his last campaign. But they also say, Anderson, he is content with the campaign he has run.
Mr. Bush again quite nostalgic today, inviting some veterans of his past campaigns for governor and both his campaigns for president to join him on Air Force One, playing cards to relax between stops, due here for the final rally in Texas, votes in the morning in Crawford, Texas. Ohio a quick campaign stop, then back to the White House to find out if he'll get four more years, Anderson.
COOPER: All right. A lot of miles to go before he sleeps. John King, thanks for that. Parents, you know, like to tell their kids that every vote matters. And while that may be kind of true, this year, votes in some states matter more than others. So how are the candidates doing in key battleground states? Let's check with our team in some of them, CNN's Deborah Feyerick, John Zarrella, and Dan Lothian.
We begin in Pennsylvania.
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, the one thing that Democrats and Republicans agree on is that it's the volunteers who are going to deliver this state, tens of thousands of them on both sides, including one couple on their honeymoon that spent hours on the phone They're walked miles. They're even gassing up their car in case they need to drive people to the polls.
Pennsylvania, very much in play. And talk about swing. A CNN- Gallup poll finds that among likely voters, President Bush leads 50 to Senator John Kerry's 46 percent. But among registered voters, the president trails 47 to Kerry's 49 percent.
The Republicans fear voter fraud, the Democrats fear voter suppression. One political insider says these are simply scare tactics, a way to gin up support and make sure that the voters go to the polls and stay there, despite the long lines, until every last ballot is cast.
Pennsylvania has a new automatic recount law, and that means that if the margin of victory is half of 1 percent, that means of 8 million voters, if 40,000 is the margin of victory, it will trigger an automatic recount. And with the number of lawyers here in the state, some 4,000 divided by two, you can bet there are going to be a lot more challenges than normal.
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm John Zarrella in West Palm Beach. The latest CNN-"USA Today"-Gallup shows Senator Kerry leading President Bush here in Florida, 49 to 46 percent, with a 3 percent margin of error.
Now, today is the last day of early voting in Florida, and here in West Palm Beach, people stood in line for up to four hours, sometimes in pouring rain. In fact, there are a few people, although the poll closed here at 5:00, still waiting to get in to cast their early voting ballots.
Now, they say 46,000 people cast early votes here in Palm Beach County. There are more than 700,000 registered voters here in Palm Beach County. And the Palm Beach County canvassing board has already been hard at work today, going over absentee ballots.
Now, they were looking to match signatures from those absentee ballots with the files, the records, the signatures they have on record. In some cases, they had to throw some out because they didn't match. And, in fact, they threw out 300 at last count, 300 absentee ballots, simply because the people had failed to sign them before they sent them in. Now, Republican and Democratic poll workers, attorneys, were on hand watching as the canvassing board went through that activity today. And they say statewide, Democrats are saying that here in Florida, they have some 3,000 poll monitors on hand. Republicans won't say exactly how many they have here, but the number, they say, is comparable.
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is Dan Lothian in Ohio.
Certainly this is a key state, not only for President Bush, for Senator Kerry as well. Both of them have spent a lot of time in this state. Last month alone, they each spent more than a half-dozen days here at Ohio. The polls showing this race neck and neck. Senator Kerry, among likely voters, 50 percent to President Bush's 46 percent. Registered voters, 51 percent to 44 percent.
Now, the biggest issue here beyond just political are all the legal challenges that are taking place, Republicans wanting to have challengers inside the polling places to look for what they believe may be fraud. They believe that there are a lot of people who may be coming here to do some fraud at the polls. That is something that they wanted to stop, that is why they wanted to be able to carry out their challenges.
At this point, those challenges cannot take place inside the polling places, but they are appealing that decision, and at this point, there are two federal courts, and also the state supreme court here in Ohio, that just some 12 hours before people start voting here in Ohio, they are still going over that issue of whether or not challengers should be allowed to go inside the polling places.
Again, Republicans believing that if they can have challengers inside the polling places, that that can cut down on fraud. And Democrats believing that with all these challengers in there will just lead to voter intimidation, to voter suppression, which will impact minorities and those who are in poor communities.
Now, both sides, both Republicans and Democrats, have hundreds of lawyers here on the ground, not only to deal with the current legal situation, but with whatever may come up after the election, Anderson.
COOPER: Dan, thanks very much for that.
360 next, spoiler or savior? Ralph Nader could be a deciding factor again. He joins me coming up next.
Also tonight, Michael Moore, he's in Florida, his cameras are rolling. We'll talk to him live and find out what he's up to.
And we're going 360 into the "CROSSFIRE." Paul Begala and Tucker Carlson make their election night predictions. Find out who will be eating crow tomorrow.
First, your picks, the most popular stores on CNN.com right now.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COOPER: Welcome back to this special edition of 360.
Now, we all know Ralph Nader doesn't have a snowball's chance in Hades of winning this election, but he may still play a large role in shaping who does. He's not on the ballot in all states and only gets about 1 percent of support in polls.
But considering what happened when he ran for president four years ago, we know how big those small numbers can be. Despite all the attacks, Nader has no problem playing spoiler, again, despite the pleas of some of his biggest supporters like Michael Moore.
When I spoke to Nader earlier today, I asked him about a comment Michael Moore made on his Web site today critical of Nader.
"Almost none of us on his 2000 advisory group are supporting him this year. For reasons only known to him," to you, "he's more angry at the Democrats than he is at Bush. He's lost his compass. I worry he has lost his mind."
RALPH NADER, INDEPENDENT PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, I think Michael Moore is a turncoat. I mean, if you look at what he said at our rallies, never settle for the least worst, always go for the best, always vote your conscience. Now he's saying, when he talks to all the students at these big rallies, he's saying, George W. Bush and John Kerry both suck, vote for John Kerry. That's a rather cynical approach.
I think we're the ones who have run an honorable campaign, and we're the ones who have etched the future of our country as most people want it.
COOPER: You said this about George Bush, though. You said, "George Bush is the most impeachable president of modern times, far more impeachable than Richard Nixon, far more impeachable than Bill Clinton, who was impeached for lying about sex under oath." And yet, you're willing to continue to stay in this race really just to prove a point. Your desire to prove a point is greater than your desire to see George Bush out of office.
NADER: No, I'm fighting much harder to defeat George Bush. I was in Madison Square Garden when the Republican convention was there, taking it apart. There were no Democrats there. We have an impeachment petition with thousands of people signing on our Web site, RalphNader.org. I'm going all over the country showing how Bush is impeachable because of this criminal war, fabricated war in Iraq. And he...
COOPER: But if you really believe that...
NADER: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
COOPER: ... I mean, you must acknowledge that some of the people who are supporting you otherwise would support John Kerry.
NADER: Well, I think they're so frightened of Bush that they're not making Kerry any better. The reason why the race is so close is not because they're so different from one another, it's because they're so similar to one another. Kerry's not drawing the bright line on living wage, on health insurance fraud, on getting out of Iraq, on reducing the bloated military budget, on getting rid of corporate subsidies, on opposing corporate globalization that's draining our industry and jobs overseas.
That's the problem. But having said that, listen, they're both corrupt parties. They, you know, they both give our government over to big business. They both are selling our elections. So we need to have a long-range approach, not just a short-range approach.
COOPER: Do you understand people's anger, though, towards you? I mean, there are people who believe you have blood on your hands, I mean, that we've gotten e-mails already. There are people who say, you know, who say, It's Bush's war, and those who believe it is Bush's war blame you. And they say, in fact, you have blood of dead Americans on your hands.
NADER: oh, can you imagine that? I mean, I opposed the war before, during, and after. That's a bizarre twist.
COOPER: Well, they blame you for the results of 2000. They say...
NADER: Well, again, (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
COOPER: ... (UNINTELLIGIBLE) the 537 difference votes.
NADER: Well, again, I say, 10 times more Democrats deserted Gore for Bush and went for the Green Party. Why don't they focus on that?
COOPER: You're clinging onto basically 1 percent of the vote. Why stay in it?
NADER: Because we are developing the agenda for the future. I mean, I don't believe that an underdog candidacy that represents tens of millions of American underdogs that are getting pushed around, underpaid, denied health care, and harmed and ignored, should go away. These parties don't speak for tens of millions of Americans who can't even live on what they earn, Wal-Mart wages.
COOPER: You're on the ballot in 35 states, District of Columbia. Where do you think you're going to do best?
NADER: I think we'll do best where we did best last time, in the New England area and the upper Midwest. But whatever it is, whatever percentage I get, for 40 years I've been fighting for people, and advancing policies that are 100 percent for the American people.
COOPER: We're going to leave it there. Ralph Nader, thanks very much.
NADER: Thank you, thank you.
COOPER: Well, 360 next, ballot breakdown. What do you get when you put 10,00 lawyers on retainer? I know it sounds like a Henny Youngman joke, but sadly it's not. David Boies joins us, as well as Jeffrey Toobin and John Fund coming up to talk about potential problems at the polls.
Also tonight, Michael Moore. He's in Florida, his cameras are rolling. The question, what's he trying to do at the polls tomorrow? Is he a lot of hot air, or a serious force at the ballot box? Michael Moore joins us live coming up.
And a little later, Paul Begala and Tucker Carlson go 360 in the "CROSSFIRE," going on the record with their predictions of what's going to happen tomorrow night.
Also in a moment, today's 360 challenge. How closely have you been following today's news? Find out next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Well, today in Ohio, two federal judges ruled that people called party challengers cannot greet voters at the polls tomorrow. But there's a late development in the story we're going to check up on in shortly.
I'm joined right now by three very special guests, Jeffrey Toobin, CNN senior legal analyst. Jeffrey, thanks for being with us.
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Hi, Anderson.
COOPER: Also David Boies, Gore's campaign attorney in 2000, Florida recount. He's preparing to help the Kerry camp should another recount be needed, also the author of "Courting Justice: From New York Yankees v. Major League Baseball to Bush v. Gore, 1997 to 2000.
Also "The Wall Street Journal"'s John Fund, author of "Stealing Elections: How Voter Fraud Threatens our Democracy."
First let's begin, late-breaking developments in Ohio. What's going on?
TOOBIN: Anderson, this is unbelievable. In the past two days, three federal judges, two in Ohio, one in New Jersey, have said the practice in Ohio of putting challengers inside the voting places violates the rights of African-Americans, mostly, because that's where they are, and prohibited the practice.
Within the last hour or so, the Ohio Supreme Court, by a vote of four to three, said that practice is permissible. Now, you're going to ask, whose word controls? I'm going to have to ask David Boies, because I have no idea. I don't know what it means.
DAVID BOIES, GORE ATTORNEY IN 2000 RECOUNT: And I don't either, because you've got two competing principals. First, who can be present at the polling place is ordinarily a question of state law, so you would think the state supreme court would control. On the other hand, discrimination is a federal issue. And if you have something that's targeted at African-American or minority districts, that can violate the civil rights actions, and that is a question of federal law.
COOPER: So this is just one of the many things we're probably going to see more of tomorrow. John Fund, what else are you looking for? I mean, provisional ballots, absentee ballots, already a lot of questions about both of those.
JOHN FUND, "THE WALL STREET JOURNAL": Well, first of all, on this Ohio challenge, that's been the law in Ohio for 51 years. Every Democratic governor has supported the law, including Dick Celeste. So this is not that controversial a move to have challengers at the polling place.
COOPER: All right, but what about, David, what about...
BOIES: Well, well, well, well, well, there is a distinction, though. In 1986, the Republican National Committee was sued in New Jersey for targeting minority districts with ballot security programs. Nothing wrong with ballot security programs. The problem was, it violated the Constitution to target minority districts.
So even though it may in general be all right to have challengers, if what you're doing is concentrating on African-American districts, that can violate the Constitution.
COOPER: We're going to see a lot of this tomorrow. Talk about provisional ballots, talk about absentee ballots.
TOOBIN: Provisional ballots is the chad of 2004. Provisional ballots was a so-called reform that Congress passed in 2002 that said any person at a polling place who was denied the right to vote for whatever reason has the right to file a provisional ballot, and its validity is challenged later. If past is any indication, there will be thousands of these provisional ballots voted tomorrow.
COOPER: But they only come into play if there's more, less than 1 percent difference in the margin of victory, correct?
(CROSSTALK)
TOOBIN: No, they're, they're, they're counted no matter what. The question is, will they matter?
(CROSSTALK)
BOIES: ... they only matter if there are more of them than the margin of victory.
COOPER: OK.
(CROSSTALK)
BOIES: Whatever that margin is.
FUND: Traditionally, only about 60 percent of provisional ballots have been verified and actually counted. The rest are rejected. The battle will be, what percentage of the provisional ballots do you declare valid? And since they're counted after everyone else is counted, both sides will know in a very close race how many of them have to be valid.
TOOBIN: And, and, and that's right. And so instead of (UNINTELLIGIBLE) the scene we all remember of the judges holding up the chads and to see that, they will be fighting over these provisional ballots whether they're valid or not, if the race is (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
COOPER: And yet in Ohio, there's still chads, I mean, there still may be chads, because there are still these paper ballots.
(CROSSTALK)
BOIES: Seven out of 10 of the voters who vote in Ohio are going to vote with the old punchcard machines.
COOPER: Ten thousand lawyers on retainer. I mean, is this going to be a mess tomorrow?
(CROSSTALK)
BOIES: It doesn't have to be. Remember, most of those 10,000 lawyers are there at the polls, they're poll watchers.
COOPER: Just to observe.
BOIES: They're there to observe. They're not in there to litigate. And what I would hope, and I think both sides really hope this, is that you're not going to end up with another election in the courts.
COOPER: John, do you agree?
FUND: With that many lawyers, you have a danger of setting in motion a doomsday machine where people just have to litigate because they're looking for problems. We are in danger of having the second election in a row where the decision is taken away from the voters and put in with lawyers and courtrooms, just like Florida 2000.
This would be bad for our democracy and for both parties.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: We're going to be monitoring it a lot tomorrow.
TOOBIN: Is there any phrase scarier in the English language than 10,000 lawyers?
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: ... come up with them. Gentlemen, appreciate you joining us. Thank you much, David Boies, John Fund, thank you.
FUND: Thank you.
BOIES: Thank you.
COOPER: 360 next, from "Fahrenheit 9/11," Michael Moore. The pop culture X-factor in this election, he's going to join us live. Be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: And welcome back to Time Warner Center.
Down to the wire, neck and neck, photo finish, get all the cliches out of your system, because this race really is that close.
Here to give us a last-ditch pitch for, from the political perspective, "CROSSFIRE" co-hosts Paul Begala and Tucker Carlson.
Gentlemen, appreciate you joining us.
How it's let, this is like Christmas for you, isn't it?
TUCKER CARLSON, CO-HOST, "CROSSFIRE": Yes, Christmas, Hanukkah, New Year's...
COOPER: All combined into one.
CARLSON: ... (UNINTELLIGIBLE), oh, yes, a Grateful Dead concert, Willie Nelson for my people and...
COOPER: Let's take a look at the latest CNN-"USA Today"-Gallup poll, though I got to say, I'm sick of polls. On the handling of Iraq, who would better handle Iraq, the president's lead has been cut from 14 percent to 4 percent on terrorism. It's been halved from 22 to 11 percent. Has Kerry turned a corner on these issues?
CARLSON: It's been, this is part of sort of a movement that's been going on for two years. I mean, the key question Kerry had to answer is, is he tough enough to protect America? And as a Democrat, he was coming out of a profound disadvantage, with a 40-point disadvantage on that question. And his spending two years talking about Vietnam and being a stunt pilot and, you know, the toughest guy in the room, and all that...
COOPER: A stunt pilot?
CARLSON: Well, it's easy, he is actually a stunt pilot, believe it or not. Easy to mock, and I enjoyed mocking it. It was sort of ludicrous on one level. Actually did a lot to close that gap. People don't think John Kerry is a weak character. He's not a Mike Dukakis, and he did, I think he, that worked (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
COOPER: Did his focus on Iraq work as well?
PAUL BEGALA, CO-HOST, "CROSSFIRE": Yes, that's what worked. The focus on Vietnam actually didn't work. He thought it would. Or at least I didn't think it worked. His staff thought it would. But the convention speech, where he focused strongly on Vietnam, really didn't move voters. It wasn't until he took the fight to the president on Iraq, which actually matters to people today, which is what he did in late summer, when he was trailing so desperately after his own convention. He retooled his campaign and he took it to Bush on Iraq.
And made a big risk about a week ago when the 380 tons explosives story came out. He engaged that story, even though the battle plan was to go now to economy and health care and domestic issues. He scrapped the battle plan and went back to Iraq.
COOPER: It's so fascinating. Does anybody know anything? I mean, I hate to put you guys on the spot, but you know, early on everyone was saying, well, look, if this is a race about domestic issues, it's Kerry. If it's Iraq, you know, it's George Bush. But I mean, that went out the window.
CARLSON: I'm not sure that's right. It was always about Iraq, because objectively that's the issue. I mean, that is -- that is kind of the generation defining issue. Fifty issues from now, that's the only issue we'll remember. And so Kerry had to say something credible about Iraq.
And I will say I think actually Kerry's -- you know, the things he's -- his rhetoric about Iraq up until Labor Day was counterproductive. He was challenging people on -- or challenging the president on why we went to war in the first place. And I don't think people wanted to revisit that argument.
It was only until he attacked the handling of the occupation that he got anywhere.
BEGALA: Right, I agree. But I think some of it is you've got to let these people find their own voice. Right? And I'm a handler from way back.
The polling suggested Kerry probably should have talked about those domestic issues more, but it didn't matter. He had to speak about what he thought was most important, where he was more credible, where his heart was. And he found that voice, as Tucker says, when he started critiquing the current operations in Iraq, and I think that's done him an enormous amount of good.
COOPER: All right. Time for some predictions. Tucker Carlson, what's going to happen tomorrow night? Who's going to win?
CARLSON: Well, strictly speaking, I don't know. All the energy is on the left, though. I mean, people who hate Bush, hate him more than people who love him, love him. I mean, the really crazies -- not everyone who hates Bush is a crazy.
COOPER: I'm glad you got that clarified.
CARLSON: It's true. It's true.
COOPER: Send your e-mails to...
CARLSON: One thing I've learned in traveling around the country for the past six months is there are a lot of people who do, and they're all voting, every single one of them. And I think that makes a difference.
COOPER: So you think John Kerry is going to win?
CARLSON: I just think he has a profound advantage because of the intensity of his followers.
COOPER: Paul Begala?
BEGALA: I think turnout will break 60 percent for the first time since the 1960s. It will be a record turnout. The biggest one cycle increase in turnout that we've ever seen, at least in the last 50 years. And I think that benefits Kerry. I think he wins by five points, 52-47, and only one percent going to the man you just interviewed, Ralph Nader.
CARLSON: Five points?
COOPER: Do you have a spread?
CARLSON: I say two points. I thought I was radical for saying two points, and I hope I'm wrong, incidentally. But five points, you're really -- cocktails after the show, not before the show, Paul.
COOPER: You think John Kerry's going to win?
CARLSON: Well, yes. I mean, I think he -- look, you know, Iraq's not doing well, and Kerry's, you know, followers don't like the president at all. I think they're going to wake up, you know, on November 3 and say we don't know anything about this guy we just elected president. But that's another show and another story.
COOPER: If he doesn't win, will you, like, wear a dress or something?
CARLSON: I'll be -- I'll be -- I'll probably be as drunk as Paul is right now.
COOPER: Tucker Carlson, Paul Begala, thanks. On 360 next, from "Fahrenheit 9/11" to the Florida polls, Michael Moore, the political "x" factor. He joins us live.
Also tonight, has the media gotten their act together this time around? Have we learned the lessons of 2000? Well, we'll show you what we think will be different this time around.
And in a moment, today's 360 challenge, how closely have you be following today's news? Find out.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: And time now for today's "360 Challenge." Be the first to answer all three questions correctly. You'll win a 360 T-shirt. No. 1, in which state are voter challengers being disputed in court?
No. 2, how many states is President Bush campaigning in today?
And finally, Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" has made more than how much at the box office?
Take the "Challenge." Log onto CNN.com/360 and clink on the answer link. Answer first, we'll send you the shirt. Find out Friday's winner and tonight's answers coming up later.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Well, tomorrow some 1,200 people will be dispatched to polling stations in the battleground states of Florida and Ohio. Now they're not election officials or even party representatives. Instead, they're a team brought together by filmmaker Michael Moore. I think they're called Mike's Video Army.
Michael Moore is in Florida right now, and he joins us live.
Michael, thanks very much for being with us.
MICHAEL MOORE, FILMMAKER: Hey, thanks for having me on, Anderson.
COOPER: I want to talk about this video army in just a second. But first, I've got to ask you about this Osama bin Laden tape.
Now in this -- in his last video, you know, that came out on Friday, Osama bin Laden talks about George Bush listening to a child's story about a goat rather than worrying about the towers. When you heard that, I mean, does it seem like to you that Osama bin Laden has seen "Fahrenheit 9/11"
MOORE: Yes, it did. And I was thinking what theaters are we in in Afghanistan? It sounds like he had a bootleg of the film. There's a big FBI warning at the beginning of it, you know. So hopefully...
COOPER: Is that a strange following? But is it a strange feeling to feel like Osama bin Laden's watching your movie?
MOORE: Yes, well, do you think that he's watching CNN, which I'm sure he's doing, right?
COOPER: Yes, I think it's weird.
MOORE: Yes, I mean, he actually, you know, could be watching you and I right now.
COOPER: I've got a question for you. Rudy...
MOORE: I mean...
COOPER: This weekend, Rudy Giuliani said that Osama bin Laden seemed influenced by your movie in some way. I want to show you what he said.
He said, "Osama bin Laden went on and repeated Michael Moore's diatribe against President Bush almost word for word, as if he had watched that movie and been influenced by it in some way." MOORE: Yes, it's really sad to see how -- to what disgusting depths Rudy Giuliani has sunk to. You know, I would never -- I'd never compare him to a mass murderer.
But, I mean, this just shows how desperate these Republicans are. They bring up my name constantly in the hopes that I don't know what. They're so -- they're so berserk over my film. They've -- they funded almost, I think, like a half a dozen, you know, anti-Michael Moore films now. They've only funded one anti-John Kerry film. And it's like, hey, guys, I'm glad I was able to take up all your time and your resources.
COOPER: You're definitely a polarizing figure. I was reading your web site.
MOORE: I'm not the candidate.
COOPER: Well, yes. I was reading your web site. You say this about Ralph Nader today, a guy you supported in 2000. You say, quote, "For reasons only known to him he's more angry at the Democrats than he is at Bush. He's lost his compass. I worry he's lost his mind."
Do you really think Ralph Nader maybe is nuts?
MOORE: Yes, I am worried about him. And I say that with all the compassion that I have toward him.
COOPER: You really think he's crazy?
MOORE: I think what he's done this year is absolutely insane.
First of all, he should have just taken credit for the fact that the Democrats this year -- look at the group that ran in the primaries. I mean, he, I think, you know, was responsible. Like the Christian right was responsible for moving the Republicans to the right back in the '80s, he moved the Democrats this year. He should have taken credit for it.
COOPER: He calls you a turncoat. I just had him on the program before. I read that quote to him, he says you're a turncoat...
MOORE: Yes.
COOPER: ... that you used to tell people to vote your conscience, and now you're telling people to vote for Kerry, even though he says you don't really support Kerry.
MOORE: No, actually, I support him strongly. Ralph -- there were, like, six dozen of us on Ralph's committee of people who supported him. None of us support him, and he basically -- this is the kind of -- this is what he says about all his friends. And it's very sad to watch a man strike a match to his great legacy. It really is.
COOPER: Michael, you have recruited people on the Internet, anyone with a video camera. I saw it on your web site today -- I think you're calling it Mike's Video Army -- to go to polling places tomorrow and videotape what's going on.
If a conservative group did that, wouldn't you say that was intimidation, that they were trying to somehow, you know, videotape people voting, and that's somehow trying to get people not to vote?
MOORE: Oh, no, we're not going to videotape them voting. This is -- if you show up to vote and they won't let you vote, you call us, and we'll be there. There's a toll-free number, 1-866-OUR-VOTE, O-U-R VOTE.
If you have any trouble at all: people won't let you vote, you see any fraud taking place, you call that number.
COOPER: But...
MOORE: That number also will dispatch a lawyer. We'll get a video camera there. We'll film the fraud taking place.
COOPER: But Michael, there are...
MOORE: We're not going to let them get away with it this time.
COOPER: There are representatives from the Justice Department who have been deployed. There are plenty of observers at these polls.
MOORE: Bush's Justice Department? Bush's Justice Department?
COOPER: Well, there are those who say that...
MOORE: And Cheney?
COOPER: There are those who say this is more about your ego, that this is, you know, your video army, that you want people to call you as opposed to calling authorities.
MOORE: Yes, I know. I remember a couple months ago you also talked about my ego, Michael Moore, the self-promoter. And I remember watching that on your show when you said that, and I thought, "Geez, you know, I've never been on Anderson Cooper's show. I've never been on Paula Zahn's show until last Friday. I've been on Larry King once in 12 years. Where's all the ego and self-promotion here?"
When you make a statement like that, the fact is, is that it's rare that I'm on any of these networks. To have a few minutes for the other side, it's just -- it's a rare thing.
And here we are, we're out here. This is our 61st city tonight that we're in, in Tallahassee, on this tour to get Bush out of office. And I've put together this army of 1,200 cameras in Ohio and Florida to make sure there's no cheating; they don't get away with what they got away with in 2000.
COOPER: Would you be -- would you be fine...
MOORE: That's my contribution as a citizen. This isn't -- this isn't for a film I'm doing. This is -- I'm not making a movie. COOPER: Would you be fine in a conservative group, you know, if Ralph Reed suddenly was suddenly recruiting people to come with cameras and, you know, respond...
MOORE: And film fraud if the Democrats were participating in any fraud? Absolutely!
But that's the difference between our side. We oppose all kinds of criminality like this.
The other side, you know, it's only about them, just like their tax cut is only about them, just like forgetting to go after Osama bin Laden and taking us into this war. It's all about benefiting Halliburton and them. It's all about them.
Our side, when we're in power come January 20, everyone's going to have health care. Everyone's going to have a raise in the minimum wage. We do things to benefit everyone.
COOPER: You said you're not a candidate. You do sound like one, though.
Michael Moore, I know you've got a big night ahead of you. We appreciate you joining us. Thank you very much, Michael.
MOORE: Thank you, Anderson, for my first appearance here.
COOPER: OK, well, you're welcome back any time.
As always, we like to show all sides. Tonight joining me from Philadelphia with a more conservative response, perhaps, radio talk show host, Michael Smerconish.
Michael, thanks for being with us.
MICHAEL SMERCONISH, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Hi, Anderson. Thank you.
COOPER: Your state is very much in play tonight. You heard Michael Moore talking. Your thoughts?
SMERCONISH: Unlike Michael Moore, I'm going out tomorrow and I'm voting for someone. I'm voting for "W" in the state of Pennsylvania.
That man is motivated by hateful thoughts. I mean, I saw "Fahrenheit 9/11" the day that it came out. It's a hate-filled movie. I don't think he's so much for John Kerry as it is that he's against George W. Bush.
COOPER: Well, he said -- he says he is for John Kerry, and has been for Wesley Clark and a little bit Howard Dean.
SMERCONISH: Yes. He's been for everybody except John Kerry until the end. Look, Roger Ebert gave a thumbs up to "Fahrenheit 9/11," and now does Osama bin Laden. He should be embarrassed about that movie. COOPER: Do you think that's really fair, Michael? I mean, just, you know, Osama bin Laden watches television. Why, you know -- I don't think Michael Moore was saying he's a supporter of Osama bin Laden. Certainly not.
SMERCONISH: I thought that the way that Osama bin Laden parroted the text of "Fahrenheit 9/11" was downright creepy, and I think he should be embarrassed about that.
COOPER: How do you explain "Fahrenheit 9/11", $200 -- more than $200 million around the world? Clearly, a lot of people support Michael Moore's position.
SMERCONISH: They do, and I think that it cuts both ways, Anderson. I mean, he came that first night that I was there at the Republican National Convention and knew enough not to come back, because he's a lightning rod. He's a lightning rod in Republican circles.
And he's bringing out as many people to vote for President Bush, in him being on CNN tonight, as he is for folks who will come out and voting for John Kerry because he's a motivating factor.
COOPER: How do you think election is going to come down tomorrow in Pennsylvania? What's going to happen?
SMERCONISH: I'm nervous. I think you and I could be having this conversation on Thursday and still not know the outcome.
COOPER: We could be having this next week or a month from now, I'm worried.
SMERCONISH: I think it's going to go well, well into the night and probably the next day. Pennsylvania is just too close to call, but we have our fingers crossed.
COOPER: What would be the biggest -- do you think it's the provisional ballots in Pennsylvania or the ballots? I mean, what do you think is going to be the biggest problem?
SMERCONISH: No, I think there are plenty of votes for either side to win this race. It's all a function of who motivates their base. The city of Philadelphia and those inner suburbs are going to go for John Kerry.
But then from Pennsylvania all the way to Pittsburgh, it's Bush country. And it's -- it's just a function of who drives their vote to come out.
I emceed the final rally for the president here last Thursday. Twenty-three thousand people came out in Bucks County. So the votes are there. It's who gets up tomorrow and marches to the polls. Either side could win it here. And this could be the key to the nation.
COOPER: And we're expecting, anecdotally, at least, a lot of voter turnout. We'll be watching. Michael Smerconish, appreciate you joining us on the eve of this election.
SMERCONISH: Thank you, Anderson. Thank you.
COOPER: At the top of the hour, CNN's Paula Zahn holds a town hall meeting, live from the battleground state of Florida. She joins me live with a preview -- Paula.
PAULA ZAHN, HOST, "PAULA ZAHN NOW": Hi, Anderson.
I don't know whether you could hear the groan in this room when Michael Smerconish says -- made the prediction this thing could drag on to Thursday. That is not what you Floridians want to have happen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No!
ZAHN: No repeat of what happened in the year 2000.
Anderson, I'm in a room with some 105 voters here from Kissimmee, Florida. About 20 percent of them are undecided.
Can I see a show of hands of those of you who have not made up your mind here on the eve of this election? Quite a few of you. And what we're going to try to do during this broadcast, Anderson, is find out what issue their vote will turn on.
And now as you've been talking all night, we believe this audience -- this election is going to turn on -- turn out itself, and that's why these undecided votes are so critical. And we're going to try to tap that here this evening at the top of the hour. We hope you'll join us then.
COOPER: It is definitely time for the undecided to make up their mind. Paula Zahn, thanks very much. Eight o'clock we'll be watching.
Coming up next on 360, calling the race. Do you think the media is going to get it right this time? We'll see. We're going to show you how we plan to make the right calls tomorrow night inside the box.
Also CNN's Judy Woodruff and Wolf Blitzer join me to give you the scoop on CNN's election night coverage. Got big plans.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Well, for the media, the hard lessons of four years ago will be put to the test tomorrow night. Boy, will they.
Back in 2000, many in the business had, well, maybe a little bit of egg on their face by jumping the gun to declare a winner. Hey, we're human. In doing so, a pretty high price was paid.
Now, we're hoping this time around, things play out differently, because "Inside the Box," what matters is getting it right, not getting it first. Let's take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN RATHER, ANCHOR, "CBS EVENING NEWS": Florida goes for Al Gore.
PETER JENNINGS, ANCHOR, ABC NEWS: ABC News is going to project that Florida goes to Mr. Bush.
JUDY WOODRUFF, HOST, "INSIDE POLITICS": A big call to make. CNN announces that we call Florida in the Al Gore column.
BRIAN WILLIAMS, NBC NEWS: After the major news media declared this one for George W. Bush of Texas, right now, at least, all bets are off.
COOPER (voice-over): Bush v. Gore 2000, all the TV networks flip-flopping on the winner, having to reverse themselves not once, but twice. Congress held hearings.
REP. BILLY TAUZIN (R), LOUISIANA: That's our job to check into what went wrong that night.
COOPER: The networks promised to do better.
DAVID WESTIN, ABC NEWS PRESIDENT: We made some serious mistakes that we have to adjust for.
COOPER: So what will prevent a repeat of ineptitude 2000?
Well, the networks have scraped VNS, Voter News Service, the old organization that conducted exit polls and counted votes, and replaced it with NEP, the National Election Pool. It's a revamped system with state-of-the-art technology incorporating lessons learned in 2000. It will handle exit poll surveys, vote polls, and the projections. The election 2004 buzz word, verify.
JEFF GREENFIELD, SENIOR ANALYST: Everybody's going to be more caution. Nobody's going to rush to judgment. Each network has its own system to try to make sure that what it is saying is correct.
COOPER: Florida had problems with calculating absentee ballots and tabulating votes. Americans learned a dimpled chad isn't a cute baby down the street.
Among this year's x factors, provisional ballots that won't be counted until after the election.
BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: If the election is as close as it looks right now, there could be a number of states in which those provisional ballots are going to make the difference and could even reverse the outcome.
There are also the early voters and the absentee voters who are appearing in record numbers.
COOPER: Analysts blame some of the 2000 errors on the network lemming effect.
SCHNEIDER: The competitive pressure will still be there, but they're going to be more careful so they don't embarrass themselves.
COOPER: Bush or Kerry, you'll decide. We'll just try to get it right "Inside the Box."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: CNN's extensive coverage of the 2004 election begins at 7 p.m. Eastern tomorrow night when the first polls close. For a preview, I'm joined now by my colleagues, Judy Woodruff and Wolf Blitzer. Good to see both of you.
WOODRUFF: Hi.
COOPER: I know you're going to get a good night's sleep tonight, because it's probably going to be a very long night, maybe a long couple of weeks. What do you think is going to be different this time? How are we doing things differently?
WOODRUFF: Well, a couple of things very specifically. First of all, we're not making any calls, Anderson, until all the polls in a particular state have closed. We are not going to make a call unless every polling place in that state has closed down.
Second of all, as you just heard in that report that you did, we are going to wait and make sure that we are comfortable with a margin. For example, you're not going to hear us call a state when the polls close unless there is a very clear and large comfortable margin in the exit poll.
COOPER: So when we project, you know, this person will -- will be the winner in this state, our projection means what? Based on what?
WOLF BLITZER, HOST, "WOLF BLITZER REPORTS": It's based on the exit polls. It's based on the polling that we did of voters over the past few weeks, early voters, absentee voters. And at some point it will be based on real numbers coming in after the polls close.
If we can't project a winner at the time the polls close at 7 or 7:30 or 8 p.m. So we will err on the side of caution. And you know what? If we have any doubt whatsoever, we're going to tell our viewers we have a lot of information, but this race is too close to call. We're not going to be ashamed or embarrassed to say we simply don't know.
COOPER: Paul Begala said he thought it was going to be a five- point difference. He thought Kerry was going to win, actually. Tucker Carlson did as well. Do you think it's -- we're going to be able to call it sometime tomorrow night?
WOODRUFF: I think it's impossible to know. I mean, the campaigns -- I've had people in both campaigns tell me that they think the election will break one way or the another, but I'm not confident in saying that.
You talk to pollsters, Anderson, you look at -- you look at the polls. We're seeing the same polls you are. The polls are very, very close. This race is on a knife's edge. And if somebody's got some information, then they're -- you know, they're...
BLITZER: There's 20 million more new voters, too.
COOPER: Yes.
BLITZER: People who haven't voted before. It's hard to gauge what they're going to do if they've never voted before.
COOPER: A lot of unknowns at this point.
Wolf Blitzer thanks very much. Judy Woodruff, 7 p.m. tomorrow we'll be watching.
Some folks are going to cling to anything: any sign, any omen. Those who don't get their fix from polls are turning to the, well, sort of questionable predictors, hoping to find out what's in the stars for their candidates.
Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Legend has it that when the Redskins lose their last home game before the election, the incumbent loses.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think it's a good tradition to follow. I think the country should stay with tradition, don't you?
COOPER: It's picked the winner correctly since 1936. Yesterday the Skins lost to the Packers, so that points to the Kerry victory.
But not so fast. There's the old Halloween mask predictor. Halloween costume mask sales have allegedly predicted the result correctly in every election since 1980. This year Bush has outsold Kerry by 10 percent, so according to this legend, Bush will win tomorrow.
Since 1904 the incumbent has failed to win reelection if the Dow Jones index fails by 0.5 percent or more in October. The Dow has fallen 0.52 percent and that leads to a Kerry presidency.
But then again, there's that pet predictor, and that favors Bush. The candidate with the most family pets usually wins the White House. Kerry has a German Shepherd and a parakeet. Bush has a cat, a dog, and a cow. The cow puts him over the top.
So like the polls and just about every TV pundit, the legendary election omens are showing a split decision. It's too close to call.
(END VIDEOTAPE) COOPER: It's all about that cow. 360 next, countdown till decision time. Get your jabs in on Kerry or Bush before you may have to admit you were dead wrong. Take that to the "Nth Degree."
First, the "360 Challenge." Here's another look at tonight's questions. Have you been paying attention? Log onto CNN.com/360. Click on the answer links. Answers when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Time now for the answers to today's "360 Challenge."
No. 1, in which state are voter challengers being disputed in the court? Answer, Ohio.
No. 2, how many states is President Bush campaigning in today? The answer, six.
And finally,, Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" has made more than how much at the box office? More than $200 million.
The first person to answer all the questions correctly will be sent a 360 T-shirt. Tune in tomorrow. Find out if you're the one. Actually, probably Wednesday.
And Friday's winner, Tracie Pearson of Fremont, Ohio. Congratulations, Tracie. Another "360 Challenge," another chance to win on Wednesday after the election.
And tonight, taking the last laugh to the "Nth Degree," with 10 or 12 hours to go before the voting really begins, there's only one thing that's absolutely safe to say. It is this.
Very soon now, just about exactly half the country will be eating crow. Half the pollsters, half the pundits, half the oracles, half the know-it-alls, half the strutting told-you-so's, and half the voters, give or take some pretty small number, will be forced to face the fact that they got it dead wrong.
Looked at another way, this is your final opportunity to have the last laugh. For a few more hours, you can still act as if you knew from the very beginning how it was all going to come out.
So go ahead, indulge yourself, Kerry, ha, ha, ha, how could anybody possibly have thought that guy was going to be president? Bush, ha, ha, ha -- that was my pathetic attempt at a "ha ha." Did anyone really think he was going to be re-elected? Some people are such blockheads. God love them.
We only hope the humble pie bakeries will be fired up at full capacity all night long, because either way, a whole lot of servings of that classic dish are going to be necessary.
I'm Anderson Cooper. We'll be doing election coverage with Wolf Blitzer, Judy Woodruff, the whole cast of characters here at CNN starting at 7 p.m. Eastern Time. Join us for that live from the NASDAQ.
"PAULA ZAHN NOW" is next.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired November 1, 2004 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, HOST: And good evening from New York. I'm Anderson Cooper.
In 24 hours, the first polls close. No more pundits, no more predictions. Finally, America decides.
360 starts now.
The clock is ticking, the race nearly done. Bush and Kerry criss-cross the country. Tonight, we're with the candidates and in key battleground states. Who has the momentum? Who'll have the turnout? The latest polls, the latest numbers, tonight on 360.
Hanging chads, butterfly ballots, armies of lawyers ready to fight. What have we and haven't we learned from the battles of 2000?
Spoiler, savior, crusader, or crazy? Ralph Nader, on the ballot and on the warpath. Tonight, we go 360 with the man many Democrats blame for George Bush.
And more than $200 million at the box office, but how will "Fahrenheit 9/11" play at the polls? Tonight, Michael Moore, live from Florida, on the president, the challenger, and why he's taking cameras to the polls tomorrow.
ANNOUNCER: This is a special edition of ANDERSON COOPER 360.
COOPER: And good evening again from New York. Thanks for joining us.
Well, this is it, one more fitful night's sleep, for those who get to sleep, anyway, the candidates and their many minions probably will not. We newspeople may not either.
Tomorrow, the voting and then the counting finally begins. The campaign is in its frantic final hours. Early voters are waiting on line to cast their ballots already, and have been in some places for days. These pictures are from Florida.
As for the latest polls, CNN's daily survey of eight well-known national polls, including its own, finds that President Bush has, on the average, a 2 percentage point lead over Senator Kerry, 48 percent to 46 percent. Statisticians would call that pretty much a photo finish.
We're covering all the angles tonight, beginning with Candy Crowley covering the camp, Camp Kerry.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's cold and nasty in Milwaukee, but there they were in an outdoor plaza, the people he needs tomorrow.
SEN. JOHN KERRY, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I'll tell you, it may be one more day, but I promise you this, I will never forget this rally in the rain here in Milwaukee.
CROWLEY: After a two-year blur of small towns and big rallies and speeches, planes and trains and automobiles, there is no moment more urgent, more electric than election eve. Listen.
KERRY: If you believe, as I do, that America's best days are ahead of us, then join me tomorrow and change the direction of America.
CROWLEY: It is the longest of long shots that anything John Kerry says today in Wisconsin or Florida, Michigan or Ohio, will affect tomorrow. So this is about atmospherics, about creating or keeping the sense of momentum. It has to be in your voice, in your body language. There must be confidence with a capital C.
KERRY: I've been coming to Florida enough that my brother Cam is thinking of running for governor. How's that?
CROWLEY: Kerry aides say they really do feel confident. They call their get-out-the-vote operation the biggest Democratic effort in history, and they like what they see in the polls. They claim early voting they've been able to track in battleground states favor Kerry. The truth is, they wouldn't tell us if they were not confident. The truth is, they aren't any more sure than anybody else.
KERRY: I need you in these hours to go out and do the hard work, knock on those doors, make those phone calls, talk to friends, take people to the polls. Help us change the direction of this great nation for the better.
CROWLEY: He is campaigning now on a wing, a prayer, and a little bit of superstition. When Kerry returns to Boston Tuesday, he will go to a local restaurant for a lucky bowl of clam chowder, something this candidate has done every election day of his political career.
Candy Crowley, CNN, Detroit.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: A lucky bowl of clam chowder. We'll talk about omens a little bit later on. But how's this for a one-day itinerary? Wilmington, Ohio, Bergenstown, Pennsylvania, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Des Moines and Sioux City, Iowa, Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Dallas, Texas. The president keeps up quite a pace, but he can't shake senior White House correspondent John King.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In Ohio to begin the final day of his final campaign, the outcome uncertain, the appeal as urgent as it gets.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Now, if you're a voter that believes that the president of the United States should say what he means and does what he says and keeps his word, I ask you to come stand with me.
KING: Marine One still at his disposal, Air Force One too. At issue, whether his lease expires in just 79 days or in four more years. A mix of confidence and nostalgia in this rare tarmac visit with reporters in Pittsburgh.
BUSH: Finish line is in sight. And I just want to assure you I got the energy and the optimism and the enthusiasm to cross the line.
KING: Ohio and Pennsylvania, then Wisconsin and Iowa, western New Mexico, and a homecoming rally in Texas.
KARL ROVE, SENIOR WHITE HOUSE ADVISER: We're going to win. We will win Florida and Ohio. We will take at least two or three or four states that were won by Gore in the last election.
KING: Democrats call it wishful thinking, and history suggests those deciding late tend to choose change. So Mr. Bush warned one last time that change would be for the worse in more ways than one.
BUSH: Hard-working people of western Pennsylvania. We're not going to let him tax you for 20 years on the largest national security issues. He has been consistently wrong.
KING: In Iowa and at every stop, a reflection on September 11 and how he sees his mission since.
BUSH: I've gotten up every morning thinking about how to better protect our country. I will never relent in defending America, whatever it takes.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: Now, Mr. Bush lost his first campaign for public office, a run for Congress, long ago. Aides say he is confident he will not lose his last campaign. But they also say, Anderson, he is content with the campaign he has run.
Mr. Bush again quite nostalgic today, inviting some veterans of his past campaigns for governor and both his campaigns for president to join him on Air Force One, playing cards to relax between stops, due here for the final rally in Texas, votes in the morning in Crawford, Texas. Ohio a quick campaign stop, then back to the White House to find out if he'll get four more years, Anderson.
COOPER: All right. A lot of miles to go before he sleeps. John King, thanks for that. Parents, you know, like to tell their kids that every vote matters. And while that may be kind of true, this year, votes in some states matter more than others. So how are the candidates doing in key battleground states? Let's check with our team in some of them, CNN's Deborah Feyerick, John Zarrella, and Dan Lothian.
We begin in Pennsylvania.
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, the one thing that Democrats and Republicans agree on is that it's the volunteers who are going to deliver this state, tens of thousands of them on both sides, including one couple on their honeymoon that spent hours on the phone They're walked miles. They're even gassing up their car in case they need to drive people to the polls.
Pennsylvania, very much in play. And talk about swing. A CNN- Gallup poll finds that among likely voters, President Bush leads 50 to Senator John Kerry's 46 percent. But among registered voters, the president trails 47 to Kerry's 49 percent.
The Republicans fear voter fraud, the Democrats fear voter suppression. One political insider says these are simply scare tactics, a way to gin up support and make sure that the voters go to the polls and stay there, despite the long lines, until every last ballot is cast.
Pennsylvania has a new automatic recount law, and that means that if the margin of victory is half of 1 percent, that means of 8 million voters, if 40,000 is the margin of victory, it will trigger an automatic recount. And with the number of lawyers here in the state, some 4,000 divided by two, you can bet there are going to be a lot more challenges than normal.
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm John Zarrella in West Palm Beach. The latest CNN-"USA Today"-Gallup shows Senator Kerry leading President Bush here in Florida, 49 to 46 percent, with a 3 percent margin of error.
Now, today is the last day of early voting in Florida, and here in West Palm Beach, people stood in line for up to four hours, sometimes in pouring rain. In fact, there are a few people, although the poll closed here at 5:00, still waiting to get in to cast their early voting ballots.
Now, they say 46,000 people cast early votes here in Palm Beach County. There are more than 700,000 registered voters here in Palm Beach County. And the Palm Beach County canvassing board has already been hard at work today, going over absentee ballots.
Now, they were looking to match signatures from those absentee ballots with the files, the records, the signatures they have on record. In some cases, they had to throw some out because they didn't match. And, in fact, they threw out 300 at last count, 300 absentee ballots, simply because the people had failed to sign them before they sent them in. Now, Republican and Democratic poll workers, attorneys, were on hand watching as the canvassing board went through that activity today. And they say statewide, Democrats are saying that here in Florida, they have some 3,000 poll monitors on hand. Republicans won't say exactly how many they have here, but the number, they say, is comparable.
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is Dan Lothian in Ohio.
Certainly this is a key state, not only for President Bush, for Senator Kerry as well. Both of them have spent a lot of time in this state. Last month alone, they each spent more than a half-dozen days here at Ohio. The polls showing this race neck and neck. Senator Kerry, among likely voters, 50 percent to President Bush's 46 percent. Registered voters, 51 percent to 44 percent.
Now, the biggest issue here beyond just political are all the legal challenges that are taking place, Republicans wanting to have challengers inside the polling places to look for what they believe may be fraud. They believe that there are a lot of people who may be coming here to do some fraud at the polls. That is something that they wanted to stop, that is why they wanted to be able to carry out their challenges.
At this point, those challenges cannot take place inside the polling places, but they are appealing that decision, and at this point, there are two federal courts, and also the state supreme court here in Ohio, that just some 12 hours before people start voting here in Ohio, they are still going over that issue of whether or not challengers should be allowed to go inside the polling places.
Again, Republicans believing that if they can have challengers inside the polling places, that that can cut down on fraud. And Democrats believing that with all these challengers in there will just lead to voter intimidation, to voter suppression, which will impact minorities and those who are in poor communities.
Now, both sides, both Republicans and Democrats, have hundreds of lawyers here on the ground, not only to deal with the current legal situation, but with whatever may come up after the election, Anderson.
COOPER: Dan, thanks very much for that.
360 next, spoiler or savior? Ralph Nader could be a deciding factor again. He joins me coming up next.
Also tonight, Michael Moore, he's in Florida, his cameras are rolling. We'll talk to him live and find out what he's up to.
And we're going 360 into the "CROSSFIRE." Paul Begala and Tucker Carlson make their election night predictions. Find out who will be eating crow tomorrow.
First, your picks, the most popular stores on CNN.com right now.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COOPER: Welcome back to this special edition of 360.
Now, we all know Ralph Nader doesn't have a snowball's chance in Hades of winning this election, but he may still play a large role in shaping who does. He's not on the ballot in all states and only gets about 1 percent of support in polls.
But considering what happened when he ran for president four years ago, we know how big those small numbers can be. Despite all the attacks, Nader has no problem playing spoiler, again, despite the pleas of some of his biggest supporters like Michael Moore.
When I spoke to Nader earlier today, I asked him about a comment Michael Moore made on his Web site today critical of Nader.
"Almost none of us on his 2000 advisory group are supporting him this year. For reasons only known to him," to you, "he's more angry at the Democrats than he is at Bush. He's lost his compass. I worry he has lost his mind."
RALPH NADER, INDEPENDENT PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, I think Michael Moore is a turncoat. I mean, if you look at what he said at our rallies, never settle for the least worst, always go for the best, always vote your conscience. Now he's saying, when he talks to all the students at these big rallies, he's saying, George W. Bush and John Kerry both suck, vote for John Kerry. That's a rather cynical approach.
I think we're the ones who have run an honorable campaign, and we're the ones who have etched the future of our country as most people want it.
COOPER: You said this about George Bush, though. You said, "George Bush is the most impeachable president of modern times, far more impeachable than Richard Nixon, far more impeachable than Bill Clinton, who was impeached for lying about sex under oath." And yet, you're willing to continue to stay in this race really just to prove a point. Your desire to prove a point is greater than your desire to see George Bush out of office.
NADER: No, I'm fighting much harder to defeat George Bush. I was in Madison Square Garden when the Republican convention was there, taking it apart. There were no Democrats there. We have an impeachment petition with thousands of people signing on our Web site, RalphNader.org. I'm going all over the country showing how Bush is impeachable because of this criminal war, fabricated war in Iraq. And he...
COOPER: But if you really believe that...
NADER: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
COOPER: ... I mean, you must acknowledge that some of the people who are supporting you otherwise would support John Kerry.
NADER: Well, I think they're so frightened of Bush that they're not making Kerry any better. The reason why the race is so close is not because they're so different from one another, it's because they're so similar to one another. Kerry's not drawing the bright line on living wage, on health insurance fraud, on getting out of Iraq, on reducing the bloated military budget, on getting rid of corporate subsidies, on opposing corporate globalization that's draining our industry and jobs overseas.
That's the problem. But having said that, listen, they're both corrupt parties. They, you know, they both give our government over to big business. They both are selling our elections. So we need to have a long-range approach, not just a short-range approach.
COOPER: Do you understand people's anger, though, towards you? I mean, there are people who believe you have blood on your hands, I mean, that we've gotten e-mails already. There are people who say, you know, who say, It's Bush's war, and those who believe it is Bush's war blame you. And they say, in fact, you have blood of dead Americans on your hands.
NADER: oh, can you imagine that? I mean, I opposed the war before, during, and after. That's a bizarre twist.
COOPER: Well, they blame you for the results of 2000. They say...
NADER: Well, again, (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
COOPER: ... (UNINTELLIGIBLE) the 537 difference votes.
NADER: Well, again, I say, 10 times more Democrats deserted Gore for Bush and went for the Green Party. Why don't they focus on that?
COOPER: You're clinging onto basically 1 percent of the vote. Why stay in it?
NADER: Because we are developing the agenda for the future. I mean, I don't believe that an underdog candidacy that represents tens of millions of American underdogs that are getting pushed around, underpaid, denied health care, and harmed and ignored, should go away. These parties don't speak for tens of millions of Americans who can't even live on what they earn, Wal-Mart wages.
COOPER: You're on the ballot in 35 states, District of Columbia. Where do you think you're going to do best?
NADER: I think we'll do best where we did best last time, in the New England area and the upper Midwest. But whatever it is, whatever percentage I get, for 40 years I've been fighting for people, and advancing policies that are 100 percent for the American people.
COOPER: We're going to leave it there. Ralph Nader, thanks very much.
NADER: Thank you, thank you.
COOPER: Well, 360 next, ballot breakdown. What do you get when you put 10,00 lawyers on retainer? I know it sounds like a Henny Youngman joke, but sadly it's not. David Boies joins us, as well as Jeffrey Toobin and John Fund coming up to talk about potential problems at the polls.
Also tonight, Michael Moore. He's in Florida, his cameras are rolling. The question, what's he trying to do at the polls tomorrow? Is he a lot of hot air, or a serious force at the ballot box? Michael Moore joins us live coming up.
And a little later, Paul Begala and Tucker Carlson go 360 in the "CROSSFIRE," going on the record with their predictions of what's going to happen tomorrow night.
Also in a moment, today's 360 challenge. How closely have you been following today's news? Find out next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Well, today in Ohio, two federal judges ruled that people called party challengers cannot greet voters at the polls tomorrow. But there's a late development in the story we're going to check up on in shortly.
I'm joined right now by three very special guests, Jeffrey Toobin, CNN senior legal analyst. Jeffrey, thanks for being with us.
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Hi, Anderson.
COOPER: Also David Boies, Gore's campaign attorney in 2000, Florida recount. He's preparing to help the Kerry camp should another recount be needed, also the author of "Courting Justice: From New York Yankees v. Major League Baseball to Bush v. Gore, 1997 to 2000.
Also "The Wall Street Journal"'s John Fund, author of "Stealing Elections: How Voter Fraud Threatens our Democracy."
First let's begin, late-breaking developments in Ohio. What's going on?
TOOBIN: Anderson, this is unbelievable. In the past two days, three federal judges, two in Ohio, one in New Jersey, have said the practice in Ohio of putting challengers inside the voting places violates the rights of African-Americans, mostly, because that's where they are, and prohibited the practice.
Within the last hour or so, the Ohio Supreme Court, by a vote of four to three, said that practice is permissible. Now, you're going to ask, whose word controls? I'm going to have to ask David Boies, because I have no idea. I don't know what it means.
DAVID BOIES, GORE ATTORNEY IN 2000 RECOUNT: And I don't either, because you've got two competing principals. First, who can be present at the polling place is ordinarily a question of state law, so you would think the state supreme court would control. On the other hand, discrimination is a federal issue. And if you have something that's targeted at African-American or minority districts, that can violate the civil rights actions, and that is a question of federal law.
COOPER: So this is just one of the many things we're probably going to see more of tomorrow. John Fund, what else are you looking for? I mean, provisional ballots, absentee ballots, already a lot of questions about both of those.
JOHN FUND, "THE WALL STREET JOURNAL": Well, first of all, on this Ohio challenge, that's been the law in Ohio for 51 years. Every Democratic governor has supported the law, including Dick Celeste. So this is not that controversial a move to have challengers at the polling place.
COOPER: All right, but what about, David, what about...
BOIES: Well, well, well, well, well, there is a distinction, though. In 1986, the Republican National Committee was sued in New Jersey for targeting minority districts with ballot security programs. Nothing wrong with ballot security programs. The problem was, it violated the Constitution to target minority districts.
So even though it may in general be all right to have challengers, if what you're doing is concentrating on African-American districts, that can violate the Constitution.
COOPER: We're going to see a lot of this tomorrow. Talk about provisional ballots, talk about absentee ballots.
TOOBIN: Provisional ballots is the chad of 2004. Provisional ballots was a so-called reform that Congress passed in 2002 that said any person at a polling place who was denied the right to vote for whatever reason has the right to file a provisional ballot, and its validity is challenged later. If past is any indication, there will be thousands of these provisional ballots voted tomorrow.
COOPER: But they only come into play if there's more, less than 1 percent difference in the margin of victory, correct?
(CROSSTALK)
TOOBIN: No, they're, they're, they're counted no matter what. The question is, will they matter?
(CROSSTALK)
BOIES: ... they only matter if there are more of them than the margin of victory.
COOPER: OK.
(CROSSTALK)
BOIES: Whatever that margin is.
FUND: Traditionally, only about 60 percent of provisional ballots have been verified and actually counted. The rest are rejected. The battle will be, what percentage of the provisional ballots do you declare valid? And since they're counted after everyone else is counted, both sides will know in a very close race how many of them have to be valid.
TOOBIN: And, and, and that's right. And so instead of (UNINTELLIGIBLE) the scene we all remember of the judges holding up the chads and to see that, they will be fighting over these provisional ballots whether they're valid or not, if the race is (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
COOPER: And yet in Ohio, there's still chads, I mean, there still may be chads, because there are still these paper ballots.
(CROSSTALK)
BOIES: Seven out of 10 of the voters who vote in Ohio are going to vote with the old punchcard machines.
COOPER: Ten thousand lawyers on retainer. I mean, is this going to be a mess tomorrow?
(CROSSTALK)
BOIES: It doesn't have to be. Remember, most of those 10,000 lawyers are there at the polls, they're poll watchers.
COOPER: Just to observe.
BOIES: They're there to observe. They're not in there to litigate. And what I would hope, and I think both sides really hope this, is that you're not going to end up with another election in the courts.
COOPER: John, do you agree?
FUND: With that many lawyers, you have a danger of setting in motion a doomsday machine where people just have to litigate because they're looking for problems. We are in danger of having the second election in a row where the decision is taken away from the voters and put in with lawyers and courtrooms, just like Florida 2000.
This would be bad for our democracy and for both parties.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: We're going to be monitoring it a lot tomorrow.
TOOBIN: Is there any phrase scarier in the English language than 10,000 lawyers?
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: ... come up with them. Gentlemen, appreciate you joining us. Thank you much, David Boies, John Fund, thank you.
FUND: Thank you.
BOIES: Thank you.
COOPER: 360 next, from "Fahrenheit 9/11," Michael Moore. The pop culture X-factor in this election, he's going to join us live. Be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: And welcome back to Time Warner Center.
Down to the wire, neck and neck, photo finish, get all the cliches out of your system, because this race really is that close.
Here to give us a last-ditch pitch for, from the political perspective, "CROSSFIRE" co-hosts Paul Begala and Tucker Carlson.
Gentlemen, appreciate you joining us.
How it's let, this is like Christmas for you, isn't it?
TUCKER CARLSON, CO-HOST, "CROSSFIRE": Yes, Christmas, Hanukkah, New Year's...
COOPER: All combined into one.
CARLSON: ... (UNINTELLIGIBLE), oh, yes, a Grateful Dead concert, Willie Nelson for my people and...
COOPER: Let's take a look at the latest CNN-"USA Today"-Gallup poll, though I got to say, I'm sick of polls. On the handling of Iraq, who would better handle Iraq, the president's lead has been cut from 14 percent to 4 percent on terrorism. It's been halved from 22 to 11 percent. Has Kerry turned a corner on these issues?
CARLSON: It's been, this is part of sort of a movement that's been going on for two years. I mean, the key question Kerry had to answer is, is he tough enough to protect America? And as a Democrat, he was coming out of a profound disadvantage, with a 40-point disadvantage on that question. And his spending two years talking about Vietnam and being a stunt pilot and, you know, the toughest guy in the room, and all that...
COOPER: A stunt pilot?
CARLSON: Well, it's easy, he is actually a stunt pilot, believe it or not. Easy to mock, and I enjoyed mocking it. It was sort of ludicrous on one level. Actually did a lot to close that gap. People don't think John Kerry is a weak character. He's not a Mike Dukakis, and he did, I think he, that worked (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
COOPER: Did his focus on Iraq work as well?
PAUL BEGALA, CO-HOST, "CROSSFIRE": Yes, that's what worked. The focus on Vietnam actually didn't work. He thought it would. Or at least I didn't think it worked. His staff thought it would. But the convention speech, where he focused strongly on Vietnam, really didn't move voters. It wasn't until he took the fight to the president on Iraq, which actually matters to people today, which is what he did in late summer, when he was trailing so desperately after his own convention. He retooled his campaign and he took it to Bush on Iraq.
And made a big risk about a week ago when the 380 tons explosives story came out. He engaged that story, even though the battle plan was to go now to economy and health care and domestic issues. He scrapped the battle plan and went back to Iraq.
COOPER: It's so fascinating. Does anybody know anything? I mean, I hate to put you guys on the spot, but you know, early on everyone was saying, well, look, if this is a race about domestic issues, it's Kerry. If it's Iraq, you know, it's George Bush. But I mean, that went out the window.
CARLSON: I'm not sure that's right. It was always about Iraq, because objectively that's the issue. I mean, that is -- that is kind of the generation defining issue. Fifty issues from now, that's the only issue we'll remember. And so Kerry had to say something credible about Iraq.
And I will say I think actually Kerry's -- you know, the things he's -- his rhetoric about Iraq up until Labor Day was counterproductive. He was challenging people on -- or challenging the president on why we went to war in the first place. And I don't think people wanted to revisit that argument.
It was only until he attacked the handling of the occupation that he got anywhere.
BEGALA: Right, I agree. But I think some of it is you've got to let these people find their own voice. Right? And I'm a handler from way back.
The polling suggested Kerry probably should have talked about those domestic issues more, but it didn't matter. He had to speak about what he thought was most important, where he was more credible, where his heart was. And he found that voice, as Tucker says, when he started critiquing the current operations in Iraq, and I think that's done him an enormous amount of good.
COOPER: All right. Time for some predictions. Tucker Carlson, what's going to happen tomorrow night? Who's going to win?
CARLSON: Well, strictly speaking, I don't know. All the energy is on the left, though. I mean, people who hate Bush, hate him more than people who love him, love him. I mean, the really crazies -- not everyone who hates Bush is a crazy.
COOPER: I'm glad you got that clarified.
CARLSON: It's true. It's true.
COOPER: Send your e-mails to...
CARLSON: One thing I've learned in traveling around the country for the past six months is there are a lot of people who do, and they're all voting, every single one of them. And I think that makes a difference.
COOPER: So you think John Kerry is going to win?
CARLSON: I just think he has a profound advantage because of the intensity of his followers.
COOPER: Paul Begala?
BEGALA: I think turnout will break 60 percent for the first time since the 1960s. It will be a record turnout. The biggest one cycle increase in turnout that we've ever seen, at least in the last 50 years. And I think that benefits Kerry. I think he wins by five points, 52-47, and only one percent going to the man you just interviewed, Ralph Nader.
CARLSON: Five points?
COOPER: Do you have a spread?
CARLSON: I say two points. I thought I was radical for saying two points, and I hope I'm wrong, incidentally. But five points, you're really -- cocktails after the show, not before the show, Paul.
COOPER: You think John Kerry's going to win?
CARLSON: Well, yes. I mean, I think he -- look, you know, Iraq's not doing well, and Kerry's, you know, followers don't like the president at all. I think they're going to wake up, you know, on November 3 and say we don't know anything about this guy we just elected president. But that's another show and another story.
COOPER: If he doesn't win, will you, like, wear a dress or something?
CARLSON: I'll be -- I'll be -- I'll probably be as drunk as Paul is right now.
COOPER: Tucker Carlson, Paul Begala, thanks. On 360 next, from "Fahrenheit 9/11" to the Florida polls, Michael Moore, the political "x" factor. He joins us live.
Also tonight, has the media gotten their act together this time around? Have we learned the lessons of 2000? Well, we'll show you what we think will be different this time around.
And in a moment, today's 360 challenge, how closely have you be following today's news? Find out.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: And time now for today's "360 Challenge." Be the first to answer all three questions correctly. You'll win a 360 T-shirt. No. 1, in which state are voter challengers being disputed in court?
No. 2, how many states is President Bush campaigning in today?
And finally, Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" has made more than how much at the box office?
Take the "Challenge." Log onto CNN.com/360 and clink on the answer link. Answer first, we'll send you the shirt. Find out Friday's winner and tonight's answers coming up later.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Well, tomorrow some 1,200 people will be dispatched to polling stations in the battleground states of Florida and Ohio. Now they're not election officials or even party representatives. Instead, they're a team brought together by filmmaker Michael Moore. I think they're called Mike's Video Army.
Michael Moore is in Florida right now, and he joins us live.
Michael, thanks very much for being with us.
MICHAEL MOORE, FILMMAKER: Hey, thanks for having me on, Anderson.
COOPER: I want to talk about this video army in just a second. But first, I've got to ask you about this Osama bin Laden tape.
Now in this -- in his last video, you know, that came out on Friday, Osama bin Laden talks about George Bush listening to a child's story about a goat rather than worrying about the towers. When you heard that, I mean, does it seem like to you that Osama bin Laden has seen "Fahrenheit 9/11"
MOORE: Yes, it did. And I was thinking what theaters are we in in Afghanistan? It sounds like he had a bootleg of the film. There's a big FBI warning at the beginning of it, you know. So hopefully...
COOPER: Is that a strange following? But is it a strange feeling to feel like Osama bin Laden's watching your movie?
MOORE: Yes, well, do you think that he's watching CNN, which I'm sure he's doing, right?
COOPER: Yes, I think it's weird.
MOORE: Yes, I mean, he actually, you know, could be watching you and I right now.
COOPER: I've got a question for you. Rudy...
MOORE: I mean...
COOPER: This weekend, Rudy Giuliani said that Osama bin Laden seemed influenced by your movie in some way. I want to show you what he said.
He said, "Osama bin Laden went on and repeated Michael Moore's diatribe against President Bush almost word for word, as if he had watched that movie and been influenced by it in some way." MOORE: Yes, it's really sad to see how -- to what disgusting depths Rudy Giuliani has sunk to. You know, I would never -- I'd never compare him to a mass murderer.
But, I mean, this just shows how desperate these Republicans are. They bring up my name constantly in the hopes that I don't know what. They're so -- they're so berserk over my film. They've -- they funded almost, I think, like a half a dozen, you know, anti-Michael Moore films now. They've only funded one anti-John Kerry film. And it's like, hey, guys, I'm glad I was able to take up all your time and your resources.
COOPER: You're definitely a polarizing figure. I was reading your web site.
MOORE: I'm not the candidate.
COOPER: Well, yes. I was reading your web site. You say this about Ralph Nader today, a guy you supported in 2000. You say, quote, "For reasons only known to him he's more angry at the Democrats than he is at Bush. He's lost his compass. I worry he's lost his mind."
Do you really think Ralph Nader maybe is nuts?
MOORE: Yes, I am worried about him. And I say that with all the compassion that I have toward him.
COOPER: You really think he's crazy?
MOORE: I think what he's done this year is absolutely insane.
First of all, he should have just taken credit for the fact that the Democrats this year -- look at the group that ran in the primaries. I mean, he, I think, you know, was responsible. Like the Christian right was responsible for moving the Republicans to the right back in the '80s, he moved the Democrats this year. He should have taken credit for it.
COOPER: He calls you a turncoat. I just had him on the program before. I read that quote to him, he says you're a turncoat...
MOORE: Yes.
COOPER: ... that you used to tell people to vote your conscience, and now you're telling people to vote for Kerry, even though he says you don't really support Kerry.
MOORE: No, actually, I support him strongly. Ralph -- there were, like, six dozen of us on Ralph's committee of people who supported him. None of us support him, and he basically -- this is the kind of -- this is what he says about all his friends. And it's very sad to watch a man strike a match to his great legacy. It really is.
COOPER: Michael, you have recruited people on the Internet, anyone with a video camera. I saw it on your web site today -- I think you're calling it Mike's Video Army -- to go to polling places tomorrow and videotape what's going on.
If a conservative group did that, wouldn't you say that was intimidation, that they were trying to somehow, you know, videotape people voting, and that's somehow trying to get people not to vote?
MOORE: Oh, no, we're not going to videotape them voting. This is -- if you show up to vote and they won't let you vote, you call us, and we'll be there. There's a toll-free number, 1-866-OUR-VOTE, O-U-R VOTE.
If you have any trouble at all: people won't let you vote, you see any fraud taking place, you call that number.
COOPER: But...
MOORE: That number also will dispatch a lawyer. We'll get a video camera there. We'll film the fraud taking place.
COOPER: But Michael, there are...
MOORE: We're not going to let them get away with it this time.
COOPER: There are representatives from the Justice Department who have been deployed. There are plenty of observers at these polls.
MOORE: Bush's Justice Department? Bush's Justice Department?
COOPER: Well, there are those who say that...
MOORE: And Cheney?
COOPER: There are those who say this is more about your ego, that this is, you know, your video army, that you want people to call you as opposed to calling authorities.
MOORE: Yes, I know. I remember a couple months ago you also talked about my ego, Michael Moore, the self-promoter. And I remember watching that on your show when you said that, and I thought, "Geez, you know, I've never been on Anderson Cooper's show. I've never been on Paula Zahn's show until last Friday. I've been on Larry King once in 12 years. Where's all the ego and self-promotion here?"
When you make a statement like that, the fact is, is that it's rare that I'm on any of these networks. To have a few minutes for the other side, it's just -- it's a rare thing.
And here we are, we're out here. This is our 61st city tonight that we're in, in Tallahassee, on this tour to get Bush out of office. And I've put together this army of 1,200 cameras in Ohio and Florida to make sure there's no cheating; they don't get away with what they got away with in 2000.
COOPER: Would you be -- would you be fine...
MOORE: That's my contribution as a citizen. This isn't -- this isn't for a film I'm doing. This is -- I'm not making a movie. COOPER: Would you be fine in a conservative group, you know, if Ralph Reed suddenly was suddenly recruiting people to come with cameras and, you know, respond...
MOORE: And film fraud if the Democrats were participating in any fraud? Absolutely!
But that's the difference between our side. We oppose all kinds of criminality like this.
The other side, you know, it's only about them, just like their tax cut is only about them, just like forgetting to go after Osama bin Laden and taking us into this war. It's all about benefiting Halliburton and them. It's all about them.
Our side, when we're in power come January 20, everyone's going to have health care. Everyone's going to have a raise in the minimum wage. We do things to benefit everyone.
COOPER: You said you're not a candidate. You do sound like one, though.
Michael Moore, I know you've got a big night ahead of you. We appreciate you joining us. Thank you very much, Michael.
MOORE: Thank you, Anderson, for my first appearance here.
COOPER: OK, well, you're welcome back any time.
As always, we like to show all sides. Tonight joining me from Philadelphia with a more conservative response, perhaps, radio talk show host, Michael Smerconish.
Michael, thanks for being with us.
MICHAEL SMERCONISH, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Hi, Anderson. Thank you.
COOPER: Your state is very much in play tonight. You heard Michael Moore talking. Your thoughts?
SMERCONISH: Unlike Michael Moore, I'm going out tomorrow and I'm voting for someone. I'm voting for "W" in the state of Pennsylvania.
That man is motivated by hateful thoughts. I mean, I saw "Fahrenheit 9/11" the day that it came out. It's a hate-filled movie. I don't think he's so much for John Kerry as it is that he's against George W. Bush.
COOPER: Well, he said -- he says he is for John Kerry, and has been for Wesley Clark and a little bit Howard Dean.
SMERCONISH: Yes. He's been for everybody except John Kerry until the end. Look, Roger Ebert gave a thumbs up to "Fahrenheit 9/11," and now does Osama bin Laden. He should be embarrassed about that movie. COOPER: Do you think that's really fair, Michael? I mean, just, you know, Osama bin Laden watches television. Why, you know -- I don't think Michael Moore was saying he's a supporter of Osama bin Laden. Certainly not.
SMERCONISH: I thought that the way that Osama bin Laden parroted the text of "Fahrenheit 9/11" was downright creepy, and I think he should be embarrassed about that.
COOPER: How do you explain "Fahrenheit 9/11", $200 -- more than $200 million around the world? Clearly, a lot of people support Michael Moore's position.
SMERCONISH: They do, and I think that it cuts both ways, Anderson. I mean, he came that first night that I was there at the Republican National Convention and knew enough not to come back, because he's a lightning rod. He's a lightning rod in Republican circles.
And he's bringing out as many people to vote for President Bush, in him being on CNN tonight, as he is for folks who will come out and voting for John Kerry because he's a motivating factor.
COOPER: How do you think election is going to come down tomorrow in Pennsylvania? What's going to happen?
SMERCONISH: I'm nervous. I think you and I could be having this conversation on Thursday and still not know the outcome.
COOPER: We could be having this next week or a month from now, I'm worried.
SMERCONISH: I think it's going to go well, well into the night and probably the next day. Pennsylvania is just too close to call, but we have our fingers crossed.
COOPER: What would be the biggest -- do you think it's the provisional ballots in Pennsylvania or the ballots? I mean, what do you think is going to be the biggest problem?
SMERCONISH: No, I think there are plenty of votes for either side to win this race. It's all a function of who motivates their base. The city of Philadelphia and those inner suburbs are going to go for John Kerry.
But then from Pennsylvania all the way to Pittsburgh, it's Bush country. And it's -- it's just a function of who drives their vote to come out.
I emceed the final rally for the president here last Thursday. Twenty-three thousand people came out in Bucks County. So the votes are there. It's who gets up tomorrow and marches to the polls. Either side could win it here. And this could be the key to the nation.
COOPER: And we're expecting, anecdotally, at least, a lot of voter turnout. We'll be watching. Michael Smerconish, appreciate you joining us on the eve of this election.
SMERCONISH: Thank you, Anderson. Thank you.
COOPER: At the top of the hour, CNN's Paula Zahn holds a town hall meeting, live from the battleground state of Florida. She joins me live with a preview -- Paula.
PAULA ZAHN, HOST, "PAULA ZAHN NOW": Hi, Anderson.
I don't know whether you could hear the groan in this room when Michael Smerconish says -- made the prediction this thing could drag on to Thursday. That is not what you Floridians want to have happen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No!
ZAHN: No repeat of what happened in the year 2000.
Anderson, I'm in a room with some 105 voters here from Kissimmee, Florida. About 20 percent of them are undecided.
Can I see a show of hands of those of you who have not made up your mind here on the eve of this election? Quite a few of you. And what we're going to try to do during this broadcast, Anderson, is find out what issue their vote will turn on.
And now as you've been talking all night, we believe this audience -- this election is going to turn on -- turn out itself, and that's why these undecided votes are so critical. And we're going to try to tap that here this evening at the top of the hour. We hope you'll join us then.
COOPER: It is definitely time for the undecided to make up their mind. Paula Zahn, thanks very much. Eight o'clock we'll be watching.
Coming up next on 360, calling the race. Do you think the media is going to get it right this time? We'll see. We're going to show you how we plan to make the right calls tomorrow night inside the box.
Also CNN's Judy Woodruff and Wolf Blitzer join me to give you the scoop on CNN's election night coverage. Got big plans.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Well, for the media, the hard lessons of four years ago will be put to the test tomorrow night. Boy, will they.
Back in 2000, many in the business had, well, maybe a little bit of egg on their face by jumping the gun to declare a winner. Hey, we're human. In doing so, a pretty high price was paid.
Now, we're hoping this time around, things play out differently, because "Inside the Box," what matters is getting it right, not getting it first. Let's take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN RATHER, ANCHOR, "CBS EVENING NEWS": Florida goes for Al Gore.
PETER JENNINGS, ANCHOR, ABC NEWS: ABC News is going to project that Florida goes to Mr. Bush.
JUDY WOODRUFF, HOST, "INSIDE POLITICS": A big call to make. CNN announces that we call Florida in the Al Gore column.
BRIAN WILLIAMS, NBC NEWS: After the major news media declared this one for George W. Bush of Texas, right now, at least, all bets are off.
COOPER (voice-over): Bush v. Gore 2000, all the TV networks flip-flopping on the winner, having to reverse themselves not once, but twice. Congress held hearings.
REP. BILLY TAUZIN (R), LOUISIANA: That's our job to check into what went wrong that night.
COOPER: The networks promised to do better.
DAVID WESTIN, ABC NEWS PRESIDENT: We made some serious mistakes that we have to adjust for.
COOPER: So what will prevent a repeat of ineptitude 2000?
Well, the networks have scraped VNS, Voter News Service, the old organization that conducted exit polls and counted votes, and replaced it with NEP, the National Election Pool. It's a revamped system with state-of-the-art technology incorporating lessons learned in 2000. It will handle exit poll surveys, vote polls, and the projections. The election 2004 buzz word, verify.
JEFF GREENFIELD, SENIOR ANALYST: Everybody's going to be more caution. Nobody's going to rush to judgment. Each network has its own system to try to make sure that what it is saying is correct.
COOPER: Florida had problems with calculating absentee ballots and tabulating votes. Americans learned a dimpled chad isn't a cute baby down the street.
Among this year's x factors, provisional ballots that won't be counted until after the election.
BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: If the election is as close as it looks right now, there could be a number of states in which those provisional ballots are going to make the difference and could even reverse the outcome.
There are also the early voters and the absentee voters who are appearing in record numbers.
COOPER: Analysts blame some of the 2000 errors on the network lemming effect.
SCHNEIDER: The competitive pressure will still be there, but they're going to be more careful so they don't embarrass themselves.
COOPER: Bush or Kerry, you'll decide. We'll just try to get it right "Inside the Box."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: CNN's extensive coverage of the 2004 election begins at 7 p.m. Eastern tomorrow night when the first polls close. For a preview, I'm joined now by my colleagues, Judy Woodruff and Wolf Blitzer. Good to see both of you.
WOODRUFF: Hi.
COOPER: I know you're going to get a good night's sleep tonight, because it's probably going to be a very long night, maybe a long couple of weeks. What do you think is going to be different this time? How are we doing things differently?
WOODRUFF: Well, a couple of things very specifically. First of all, we're not making any calls, Anderson, until all the polls in a particular state have closed. We are not going to make a call unless every polling place in that state has closed down.
Second of all, as you just heard in that report that you did, we are going to wait and make sure that we are comfortable with a margin. For example, you're not going to hear us call a state when the polls close unless there is a very clear and large comfortable margin in the exit poll.
COOPER: So when we project, you know, this person will -- will be the winner in this state, our projection means what? Based on what?
WOLF BLITZER, HOST, "WOLF BLITZER REPORTS": It's based on the exit polls. It's based on the polling that we did of voters over the past few weeks, early voters, absentee voters. And at some point it will be based on real numbers coming in after the polls close.
If we can't project a winner at the time the polls close at 7 or 7:30 or 8 p.m. So we will err on the side of caution. And you know what? If we have any doubt whatsoever, we're going to tell our viewers we have a lot of information, but this race is too close to call. We're not going to be ashamed or embarrassed to say we simply don't know.
COOPER: Paul Begala said he thought it was going to be a five- point difference. He thought Kerry was going to win, actually. Tucker Carlson did as well. Do you think it's -- we're going to be able to call it sometime tomorrow night?
WOODRUFF: I think it's impossible to know. I mean, the campaigns -- I've had people in both campaigns tell me that they think the election will break one way or the another, but I'm not confident in saying that.
You talk to pollsters, Anderson, you look at -- you look at the polls. We're seeing the same polls you are. The polls are very, very close. This race is on a knife's edge. And if somebody's got some information, then they're -- you know, they're...
BLITZER: There's 20 million more new voters, too.
COOPER: Yes.
BLITZER: People who haven't voted before. It's hard to gauge what they're going to do if they've never voted before.
COOPER: A lot of unknowns at this point.
Wolf Blitzer thanks very much. Judy Woodruff, 7 p.m. tomorrow we'll be watching.
Some folks are going to cling to anything: any sign, any omen. Those who don't get their fix from polls are turning to the, well, sort of questionable predictors, hoping to find out what's in the stars for their candidates.
Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Legend has it that when the Redskins lose their last home game before the election, the incumbent loses.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think it's a good tradition to follow. I think the country should stay with tradition, don't you?
COOPER: It's picked the winner correctly since 1936. Yesterday the Skins lost to the Packers, so that points to the Kerry victory.
But not so fast. There's the old Halloween mask predictor. Halloween costume mask sales have allegedly predicted the result correctly in every election since 1980. This year Bush has outsold Kerry by 10 percent, so according to this legend, Bush will win tomorrow.
Since 1904 the incumbent has failed to win reelection if the Dow Jones index fails by 0.5 percent or more in October. The Dow has fallen 0.52 percent and that leads to a Kerry presidency.
But then again, there's that pet predictor, and that favors Bush. The candidate with the most family pets usually wins the White House. Kerry has a German Shepherd and a parakeet. Bush has a cat, a dog, and a cow. The cow puts him over the top.
So like the polls and just about every TV pundit, the legendary election omens are showing a split decision. It's too close to call.
(END VIDEOTAPE) COOPER: It's all about that cow. 360 next, countdown till decision time. Get your jabs in on Kerry or Bush before you may have to admit you were dead wrong. Take that to the "Nth Degree."
First, the "360 Challenge." Here's another look at tonight's questions. Have you been paying attention? Log onto CNN.com/360. Click on the answer links. Answers when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Time now for the answers to today's "360 Challenge."
No. 1, in which state are voter challengers being disputed in the court? Answer, Ohio.
No. 2, how many states is President Bush campaigning in today? The answer, six.
And finally,, Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" has made more than how much at the box office? More than $200 million.
The first person to answer all the questions correctly will be sent a 360 T-shirt. Tune in tomorrow. Find out if you're the one. Actually, probably Wednesday.
And Friday's winner, Tracie Pearson of Fremont, Ohio. Congratulations, Tracie. Another "360 Challenge," another chance to win on Wednesday after the election.
And tonight, taking the last laugh to the "Nth Degree," with 10 or 12 hours to go before the voting really begins, there's only one thing that's absolutely safe to say. It is this.
Very soon now, just about exactly half the country will be eating crow. Half the pollsters, half the pundits, half the oracles, half the know-it-alls, half the strutting told-you-so's, and half the voters, give or take some pretty small number, will be forced to face the fact that they got it dead wrong.
Looked at another way, this is your final opportunity to have the last laugh. For a few more hours, you can still act as if you knew from the very beginning how it was all going to come out.
So go ahead, indulge yourself, Kerry, ha, ha, ha, how could anybody possibly have thought that guy was going to be president? Bush, ha, ha, ha -- that was my pathetic attempt at a "ha ha." Did anyone really think he was going to be re-elected? Some people are such blockheads. God love them.
We only hope the humble pie bakeries will be fired up at full capacity all night long, because either way, a whole lot of servings of that classic dish are going to be necessary.
I'm Anderson Cooper. We'll be doing election coverage with Wolf Blitzer, Judy Woodruff, the whole cast of characters here at CNN starting at 7 p.m. Eastern Time. Join us for that live from the NASDAQ.
"PAULA ZAHN NOW" is next.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
